Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Growing up, one of my favorite food memories (and trust me, there are many) was buying ice cream from the ice cream truck that would come on my grandparents' street or after a softball game. I think I was able to hear the familiar tune streets away and I would drop whatever I was doing, find my grandparents, and wait on the curb. I never got the same thing twice, but my favorite would probably have to be the cherry sherbet in the shape of a baseball glove with a bubblegum baseball. Maybe it was my love of baseball, the fact that it was a shade of pink, or the simple fact it just tasted good. Those days are now only memories but I do see that same truck driving around from time to time, only now instead of white, it is school bus yellow. I have now discovered a new food truck around the streets of Cleveland that in a way, takes me back to those summer days of the ice cream man.

Dim and Den Sum is making it's way onto the Cleveland culinary map. I first found out about this truck on a friend's Facebook page, thus becoming a D&DS fan. Luckily, one of their regular stops was near my place of employment over lunch. However, until today, I finally made it a point to stop for lunch, and I was far from disappointed. They had a few different lunchtime options ranging from different types of tacos, to burgers, to a vegetarian curry, all very reasonably prices. Everything is also made to order. Since I could not decide between the three different tacos (chicken, fish, and BLT) and since they were 3/$6, I had one of each. They were a perfect lunch or snack sized and well stuffed. The first one I had, and ended up being my favorite, was the fish. I would like to consider this a Mexican-Asian fusion taco since the flavors of the catfish and slaw were distinctly Asian, while the corn and tortilla were the Mexican half. It had a very sweet and light flavor to it and next time I visit this truck, I may opt for three fish tacos. The second one I tried was the BLT taco, taking a deli favorite of mine and wrapping it on a tortilla. Again, I was not disappointed, however I would have preferred a bit more aioli on the side to add and my bacon a little more crisp (again, this is my personal bacon preference). Lastly, was the chicken taco, again following the Mexican-Asian fusion of the fish taco. I loved the teriyaki flavor and next time would consider adding a little of the Sriracha hot sauce since I love the combination of sweet and heat.

Dim and Den Sum is also a finalist to be on the next season of Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race". They currently are in third place and there are only a few days left to vote. It would be awesome to see another Cleveland culinary star competing on national TV. So please take a moment to vote for them here: http://foodtrucks.teamdigital.com/?vty=foodtrucks#page_top.

Check out their weekly schedule and menu online and "Like" them on Facebook. Next time they are in your neck of the woods or you see them on the streets of Cleveland (their truck is very hard to miss), I highly recommend trying sum.